Births: final data for 1997.

OBJECTIVES

This report presents 1997 data on U.S. births according to a wide variety of characteristics. Data are presented for maternal demographic characteristics including age, live-birth order, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, and educational attainment; maternal lifestyle and health characteristics (medical risk factors, weight gain, and tobacco and alcohol use); medical care utilization by pregnant women (prenatal care, obstetric procedures, complications of labor and/or delivery, attendant at birth, and method of delivery); and infant health characteristics (period of gestation, birthweight, Apgar score, abnormal conditions, congenital anomalies, and multiple births). Also presented are birth and fertility rates by age, live-birth order, race, Hispanic origin, and marital status. Selected data by mother's State of residence are shown including teenage birth rates and total fertility rates, as well as data on month and day of birth, sex ratio, and age of father. Trends in fertility patterns and maternal and infant characteristics are described and interpreted.

METHODS

Descriptive tabulations of data reported on the birth certificates of the 3.9 million births that occurred in 1997 are presented.

RESULTS

Birth and fertility rates declined very slightly in 1997. Birth rates for teenagers fell 3 to 5 percent. Rates for women in their twenties changed very little, whereas rates for women in their thirties rose 2 percent. The number of births and the birth rate for unmarried women each declined slightly in 1997 while the percent of births that were to unmarried women was unchanged. Smoking by pregnant women overall dropped again in 1997, but continued to increase among teenagers. Improvements in prenatal care utilization continued. The cesarean delivery rate increased slightly after declining for 7 consecutive years. The proportion of multiple birth continued to rise; higher order multiple births (e.g., triplets, quadruplets) rose by 14 percent in 1997, following a 20 percent rise from 1995 to 1996. Key measures of birth outcome--the percents of low birthweight and preterm births--increased, with particularly large increases in the preterm rate. These changes are in large part the result of increases in multiple births.